Nineteenth-century photographs, be they portraits or scenic views, were generally constructed around a single focus of interest. In 'A game of bowls', Wood, not for the first time, was creating a decentralised composition where the eye of the viewer is allowed to wander from light to dark areas and back again. Whether this was an accident or a deliberate device, it makes the group of people appear much more natural than was usual for the time.
John Muir Wood (Scottish, 1805 - 1892)
John Muir Wood came from a family of Edinburgh piano makers and music publishers. He was sent abroad in 1826 to Paris and Vienna to study the piano. Returning to Edinburgh in 1828 as a music teacher, he entered the family business with his brother. His knowledge of photography may date from his friendship in the 1840s with the eye surgeon Dr Jasper MacAldin who shared his knowledge of optics and chemistry. Throughout his amateur career Wood produced many portraits as well as landscape photographs of the places he visited in Britain and on the Continent.
